The March East

[herosrest]

^Ducemus

Marksmanship obviously comes into it but perhaps, the considerable majority of US soldiers were not murderously inclined towards those they were confronting. That killer instinct takes some honing and from what little we know, 7th Cavalry went into the fight in cocky self belief.

Something let the wind out of that bag, which is a part of the national disbelief that a regiment could be decimated and one half its number slaughtered in the blink of an eye. How the hell did that happen, was probably a broad echo. The Fetterman Fight nine years previous had not taught the proper lessons, perhaps.

It seems that the trajectory of the rifle and carbine rounds was somewhat unusual but what do I know? The army did not train marksmen at that time, which may have been a throwback to musketry ala ACW, or more so the pennypinching ways of Terry and Reno chairing the Small Arms Board which developed, endorsed, purchased, and deployed the 1873 Springfield weapns system. Of course a human being is not a barn dorr, and almost unique in American culture is fascination with small and smaller barn doors

The thoery of battle is not actually the destruction of flesh and blood but rather control of space and territory and the denial of said, allowing your foe to eat some dirt. We don't wan't you running around being naughty. Sit. Stay. Go away.

The carbine will knock a horse off its feet at 300 yards.


Boring read.

[johnson1941]

The Indians pulled off Reno and a half of them ( that DeRudio could see) wdnt up the bluffs. He saw it. Is there any reason to doubt his words? No

I don't have a reason to doubt it - I just would like to read it to know what you're talking about.

Do you have the Brisbin / DeRudio stuff you mention?


RCOI
Q. State, if you know, what had become of the large number of Indians that were around Major Reno’s command after he left the timber, and where did they go?
A. Soon after he left the timber and reached the hill, the firing commenced on the other side of the village. I heard immense volleys of firing and more than half the Indians around Major Reno left. Part of them went on the highest bluffs and part went down the river. Some of them picketed their ponies under the bluffs and lay down flat, watching Major Reno.
...
A. The firing started soon after Major Reno got on top of the hill, at least a few minutes after. I could hear immense volleys on the other side of the village. It was down the river and the fire lasted probably an hour and a half and then died off at a distance with small shots, and pretty soon the fire entirely died away.
Before it died away entirely the same Indians who left Major Reno soon after he left the timber, came right back again and part of them went on the bluff, and part of them went across the plain and to the south of Major Reno’s position, on the bluff.
...
Q. Can you state whether the same Indians who engaged Major Reno down in the timber where the command was deployed were the same Indians who afterwards went after General Custer?
A. I can’t tell. I saw Indians going down the river, whether they got there in time to assist the others or not, I can’t say.
Q. Did they go before that heavy firing commenced?
A. No, as soon as the heavy firing commenced, they started.
Q. What became of that heavy body of Indians after Major Reno left the timber?
A. There were plenty all around there.
Q. Did they remain there?
A. Some remained there and some went on the bluffs through the ravines and were in a situation to fire on Major Reno. I could see them, but from the position Major Reno was in he probably could not see them. They had picketed their horses below.
The great bulk of the Indians went down the river as soon as they heard the heavy firing, and returned soon after the firing began to die away, but returned in much greater force than they went away.


Some good stuff here...picketing horses below Reno, etc.


Curious to check the Crows to see what they say about running into hostiles while traverseing the ridge along the bluffs.

Wonder how they were able to avoid them...

HM
We went back on the trail up Medicine Tail and south coulees and along bluffs past Reno hill and on up nearly to Ford A, where we met the pack-train…

GA
We saw Reno’s battle and went back south along bluff and met Benteen’s command. We three Crows did not see Custer after he turned down the coulee to right. Did not see Custer fight. Did not see beginning of it or any part of it. Does not know whether Custer went to river. We turned back too early to see where Custer went north of Dry Creek.


Custer had told the Crow scouts to stay out of the fight and they went to the left along the ridge overlooking the river while he took his command to the right (Goes-Ahead is sure Curley, the Crow scout, was not with him). At this point both Curley and Black Fox, Arikara scout, disappeared…The three Crow scouts rode along the high ridge, keeping back from the view of the Dakotas till they came to the end of the ridge and to the bluff just above the lower ford. There they dismounted and fired across into the Dakota camp, the circle of tents they could see over the tree-tops below them. They heard two volleys and saw the soldiers’ horses standing back of the line in groups. Then in accordance with orders Custer had given them about staying out of the fight, they rode back along the ridge and met the Arikara scouts and pack-mules. They then rode away around the point of the highest hill…